5/16/16

Back
in 2011, there was a 6-3 lefty out of TCU that was projected as the first
overall pick on most mock drafts…

Matt Purke
was the darling of the 2011 draft until his shoulder problems began. It cost
him most of the pre-draft season in school and drove down his being picked in
the draft to the 3rd round (96th pick overall) by the
Washington Nationals (he still got a $4mil signing bonus).

I
never expected the Mets to take a chance on him because they just don’t draft
like the Nats do (see Lucas Giolito), but I
cringed every time a name was called out when the Mets time came up before the
Purke pick…

Brandon Nimmo… Michael Fulmer… Cory Mazzoni…

Purke
eventually pitched five seasons in the Nats system, though he never did pick up
a baseball the year he came out of college. His five tear minor league stat
line was unimpressive: a mere 58G/44starts, 10-18, 4.54 and only 174-Ks in
214-IP. The Nats eventually cut fish and Purke signed this season with the
Chicago White Sox.

So
far, his relief work at the AA level has been mildly impressive… 10 games, (one
start), 0-0, 2.30, 14-K, 15.2-IP (though much improvement is still needed on
the 8-BB). Still, it was an article in MLBTR that caught my eye this week that
brought a smile to my face. The White Sox had promoted Purke to the major
leagues.

We
wish my favorite 2011 pick well and we’ll keep an eye on him this season.

Well,
it seems that, after another Matt Harvey difficult
start and a Logan Verrett blowup, we’re back to
trying to find an answer for the supposedly world’s best rotation (sic).

Another
name to throw back in the pot might be Rafael Montero,
who has another excellent outing Saturday night for Las Vegas in their 1-0 loss
played in Oklahoma City… 6.0-IP, 2-H, 0-R, 7-K, 2-BB, seasonal ERA down to
3.94.

Yes,
I do swing back and forth on this guy, but I still feel his major league talent
is being wasted in the minors. I still like by backend 7-8-9 bullpen idea a few
years ago of Montero-Familia-Mejia, but we all know what happened to that
pipedream.

Anyway,
keep your eyes on Montero every fifth outing of the 51s season.

The
2016 baseball season is starting to get far more interesting for Mets fans than
last year. 2015 was basically a two horse race to get to the NL East crown and
it doesn’t look like it’s going to be that easy this season. We were just in
first place, now we’re in third, and, as of close of business Saturday night,
we’re only two games out of fourth.

I
pretty much have tunnel vision when it comes to this sport, so I have no idea
why both Philadelphia and Miami are both playing so much better this season. I’m
sure it falls into the same category Texas, the Cubs, and the Nats fell into
before… you will eventually draft a bunch of top prospects if you continue to
suck and get early picks in drafts.

Add
this to a team (Mets) that currently is both hitting and pitching at a sub-par
level and this creates the kind of competitive situation we are seeing right
now.

Last
year was too easy. Washington just continued to sit on their hands and allowed
the Mets to build up an unsurmountable divisional lead. This doesn’t look like
what’s going to happen this year. This could easily be a four horse race with
each team playing each other three and four games series for the rest of the
season.

I am encouraged by Montero's recent starts. My guess is that he is too, and maybe that's even more important to a player who has had his confidence shaken. If he can continue to pitch well, he should be strongly considered for the next spot start, though I think you can still make an argument for Verrett or Gilmartin.

To me, Verrett feels like a mirage, I'm just not excited by his arsenal. Gilmartin could be a starter now. At least I think so, maybe, possibly. With Montero, who knows! Right now, he's doing exactly what he needs to do. Throwing hard, getting innings, and knocking on the door.

It feels like either Harvey or deGrom (or both) might need a rest. When pitchers talk about feeling "uncomfortable," that sure sounds like code language to me.

Yeah, I agree with Brian, the Phillies record is a bit of smoke and mirrors. Their -30 run differential will come back to swing the other way unless they make some trades to bolster the team. Mets either tied or won 8 straight series, they were due for some bad luck, it just sucks when the bad luck has to do with the umping more than playing. I think the quickest way things get turned around is if Harvey finds his groove. The hitters will rebound. Be interesting to see how long a leash De Aza and Flores get. I wish Herrera could be tried out at 3rd so we could find him some playing time.

How long can we keep both Verrett and Gilmartin, but no backup SS.? We don't really have anyone on the 40 who looks ready for promotion, so IMO a trade is coming soon. A MnLer on our 40 for a veteran backup IFer who can play SS. Could happen before tomorrow night's game.

It's still early, but the recent tailspin does seem to imply (combined with last year's results) that d'Arnaud--not Wright, not Grandy, not Cespedes, not anyone else--is the key to the Mets offense. Given his frequent trips to the DL, that's a bit worrisome.

@jamespreller -- I had opined on Saturday that bringing up the man stretched out to be a starter who'd been mowing everyone down with aplomb to work out of the bullpen and to take the long reliever and force feed him into the rotation put two people into the wrong roles. No one offered any thoughts when I pointed that out. Obviously you and I are in synch.

As far as Metsiac's idea to waste resources to trade for a backup middle infielder, you have Reynolds and Rivera both available in AAA. If the backup player is getting a lot of starts, that means a big problem with either Cabrera or Walker. THEN you could look at a trade. Not now.

I'm NEVER in favor of "wasting" resources. But last year, we traded for two excellent bench pieces in Uribe and Johnson without "waste". There are guys on the 40 who have little value to us (such as Alvarez) who should have enough value to someone else to get someone in return. A good trade benefits both teams, which is why no one's crying over Fulmer's success as long as Yo is helping us.

Reese's favorite scapegoat of the past few seasons (R.T.) could probably be had for one of our expendable MnLers. 😈